Science Express journey to continue

NEW DELHI: Heartened by the hugely successful seven-month journey of `Science Express' a science exhibition on wheels, the Government has decided to continue with this unique project.

"I would like to announce that the journey (of Science Express) is going to continue, seeing the enthusiasm among the visitors," Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said here addressing the conclusion of the 15,000 km-long journey of the train on Wednesday.

The exhibition has been hugely successful, with an estimated 2.2 million science enthusiasts visiting the train that covered 57 destinations across the country.

The Science Express, a cooperative venture of Max Planck Society of Germany, the Department of Science and Technology and German Ministry of Education and Research was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on October 30 last year.

"For the next three months, the train will go in for changes in terms of decor and exhibits. Then, it will continue its journey across the country for the next eight months," said T Ramaswami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology.

There has been a popular demand from those areas where the train, due to its length and logistical problems, could not go, Ramaswami said.

"Till now, the train traversed the contours of the country in a clockwise manner. In the next round, we intend to cover 50 more destinations in the interiors of the country," he said.